Why Barcelona Is Becoming a Hub for Travel Startups

The most surprising hub for technology companies in general — and travel startups in particular — is Barcelona.

Release time : 2020-12-28 10:26:29

source : Skift

Silicon Valley remains synonymous with startups. Yet remote working during the pandemic has sparked interest among digital entrepreneurs and software engineers worldwide for other cities that have tech hubs, such as Singapore, Berlin, Toronto, London, New York, Tel Aviv, Medellin, and Beijing. The most surprising hub for technology companies in general — and travel startups in particular — is Barcelona.

“When we founded TravelPerk, we wanted a home city that reflected our company’s culture and identity,” said Avi Meir, CEO and co-founder of business travel management startup TravelPerk, which raised $104 million in its Series C round. “Barcelona is exactly that - it’s vibrant, dynamic, and filled with ambition and opportunity.”

The northwestern Spanish region of Catalonia — and mainly Barcelona — had about 9,100 positions in the travel tech category, according to a report by Mobile World Capital Barcelona published last week in Catalan. (An English-language version is due in mid-January). “Travel tech” represented about 7 percent of the digital professional job offers in the region in 2020.

About 370 travel companies have offices or headquarters in the greater Barcelona area. Of those, 44 percent focused on digital travel sales for consumers, 47 percent were tech suppliers to the tourism sector, and the rest were consultants to the travel sector, the report found.

“We’re the strongest tech hub in Southern Europe,” said Jordi Arrufí, director of the digital talent program at MWCapital, which funded the report.

The Spanish city on the sea has helped foster several travel tech companies. None have yet reached such heights as eDreams. The online travel agency became Spain’s first startup to reach a billion-euro valuation.

The company became a conglomerate called eDreams Odigeo, which in 2020 relocated its headquarters to Luxembourg (apparently for tax